Impact producing implement



May 17, 1949. MATZIE 2,470,406

IMPACT PRODUCING IMPLEMENT Filed May 9, 1945 HVVENIDR.

' Arr e wiy Patented May 17, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE IMPACTPRODUCING IMPLEMENT Frederick W. Matzie, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May 9, 1945, Serial No. 592,909

2 Claims (Cl. 273-80 This invention relates to an impact. producing=implement, and more particularly to a golf club havinga wooden-strikinghead.

The present invention in the broadest aspects, thereof is not limited togolf clubs, although such an implement has been selectedto illustratethe same.

Golf clubs. generally comprise a wooden or steel head applied to. one.end of a metallic hollow shaftand affixed thereto by means of metal pinsor screws. While these tubular metallic shafts posses-s a reasonabledegree of flexibility they donot deform radially to as great a degree asthe Wooden. hosel of a driver club head. The impact of. a. wooden" clubhead. against a ball sets up ten-- sion in the hosel. due to theextension caused bythe concentrated load. adjacent the point of.attachment between the club head and the shaft. As wood cannot takerelatively high tension loads, the tension set up in the hosel. at the,time of the impact. will many times result failure oi the hosel.

A number of means. have been devised to reinforce and distribute theload transmitted to the hosel and prevent the same from failing at the.timev of the impact- One of the most com monly used devices heretoforeproposed was the string neck binder which consisted of a tight helicallywrapped layer of, string over the joint between the hoseL of the clubhead and. the tubu lar shaft. This binder has not eliminated the.

trouble, for after use the string stretches and. becomes loose so. thatthe club head no longer receives.support-therefrom- To, obviate thedifficulties had with the string. neck binder, it. has been proposed. tocoat the string with a layer of soften-ed cellulose acetate wound overthe string. for protection of the same.

However, when the acetate dries and hardens the. string is, pulled awayfrom the club hosel and the shaft, and as a result the club head. is.

not strengthened. against the stresses created by z. transmitted by thehosel. The sleeve is permanently mounted on the hosel and as the ma--terial from which it is formed is resistant to atmospheric corrosion,the sleeve is not likely to fail in use.

To increase the resilience of the sleeve and to distribute the stressessetup in both the hosel and the sleeve, the latter is preferably formedwith at. least one longitudinally extending slot. The slot terminates inan aperture: of a Width greater than the Width of the slot to preventthe sleeve from rupturing at the inner end of the slot;

To aid in retaining the sleeve on the hosel of the club a ferrule ismounted on the shaft contiiguous to the head and prevents the sleevefrom moving; upwardly relative to the hosel. The ferrule: ispreferably-tapered to fair the jointure between the. he ad; and. theshaft.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying. drawingin which;

Figure. l; isa fragmentary front elevation oi the: gait. club: or the.present: invention, showingthe shaiit passing, therethrough in dottedlines;

Figure 2 is a section-a1 view taken longitudinally through the sleeve toshow the construction of the slots therein;

Figure. 3 is a sectional view taken longitudinally through the ferrule;and

Figure 4 isa-crosssectional-View taken through the-protector; hosel andcliub shaft.

In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, referring now toFigure 1, [0. indicates the wooden head: of a golf club. formed with astriking face and having an elongate neck or hoseI H The. hoset as wellas the head proper is formed with a borev for receiving the lowerend ofashaft |=2;.

The: end of the shaft received in the bore is held therein: by pinsl.3rformed of some fibrous material fixed in: small: aligned boresformed. in thehead and shaft. The'fibrous. material should be or a.strength sufficient to take the: loads impressed: on. the pins: but yetsufliciently flexible so as to absorb the shock produced by the impact.when the ball is struck by the head. The fiber pins: take: part: of thetorsion produced by a badly hit; ball: and tend to reduce tension. inthe: portion. oi the: hosel; taking the thrust oil the? securing pin atthe time of the impact.

Mounted about the. upper end: of thehosel is a. sleeve M of some;suitable resilient material. The. inner diameter; of. the. sleeve shouldbe: of.

such relative to the outer diameter of the hosel that the wood of thelatter will be under compression when the sleeve is forced onto thehosel. As best shown in Figure 2 of the drawing, the sleeve is formedwith a plurality of longitudinally extending slots I5, each of whichterminates in an aperture l6, preferably circular and of a diametergreater than the Width of the slot. These apertures are provided in thesleeve to prevent any tendency of same to rupture at the inner ends ofthe slots when the sudden shock is applied to the head of the golf clubat the time the ball is struck.

Although the sleeve 14 may be formed of any material which is capable oftaking the stresses set up therein when the ball is struck by the head,in the now preferred embodiment of the invention the sleeve is formed ofa material such as phosphor bronze. The sleeve when formed of this alloynot only possesses the high tensile strength necessary to withstand thetension stresses set up therein, but is sufficiently elastic to take thebending forces produced by the impact at the time the ball is struck. Asthis alloy is also resistant to corrosion, there is little if anylikelihood of the sleeve failing because of corrosive action of theatmosphere.

It will be seen that the sleeve is so mounted to the hosel that theslotted end thereof forms lower portion of the sleeve. The slotsincrease the resilience of the lower portion of the sleeve and alsofacilitate mounting of the sleeve about the hosel. As the lower portionof the sleeve is more resilient the forces and stresses transmitted tothe sleeve are taken up and distributed throughout the more resilientlower portion of the sleeve. This results in less stress in the hoseladjacent the lower end of the sleeve, and consequently reduces thepossibility of failure due to shear in that portion of the hosel.

As the sleeve is resilient it tends to reduce and damp vibrations set upby the impact of the head against the ball particularly when the ball ishit off center. These vibrations are ordinarily transmitted through theshaft to the hands of the player and result many times in temporary butannoying injury to the players hands.

The sleeve, as the inner diameter thereof is less than the outerdiameter of the hosel, normally holds the wood of the hosel in hoopcompression. r

The compression should be such that the forces created by the impact ofthe head against the ball will not produce tensional forces greater thanthe tensile strength of the wood of the hosel. Although the internalforce exerted by the shaft against the inner surface of the hosel willtend to place the hosel under tension, the compressive force exerted bythe sleeve against the outer surface of the hosel will resist or arrestthe force exerted by the shaft to the end that little if any extensionof the wood fibers is brought about at the time of the impact. Thus thesleeve in normally holding the wood of the hosel in hoop compressionprevents the stresses in the hosel from changing into tension or atleast into tensional stresses in excess of the tensile strength of thewood.

To prevent separation of the sleeve M from the hosel, a ferrule I'l,slipped over the lower end of the shaft before the latter is mounted inthe bore of the club head, is fixed to the shaft so that the one endthereof engages the upper end of the sleeve. The ferrule is preferablegiven a taper to eliminate the shoulder formed by the upper end of thehosel and sleeve. The ferrule thus fairs the jointure of the head andshaft and enhances the appearance of the club.

The ferrule can be formed of any material which is not subject toatmospheric corrosion. In the now preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the ferrule is formed by the material Tenite. This material isnot only resistant to atmospheric corrosion but to shock as well. It iseasily formed and can be secured in a wide range of colors if desired.

Although the now preferred embodiment of the present invention has beenshown and described herein, it is to be understood that the invention isnot to be limited thereby for the same is susceptible to changes in formand detail within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A golf club comprising a wooden body formed with a substantially flatstriking face; an elongate, tapered hosel formed integral with said bodyand extending upwardly therefrom; a shaft; said hosel being formed witha bore for receiving an end of said shaft; a sleeve having a wall ofconstant thickness encircling the upper portion of said hosel, saidsleeve having a tapered, smooth, inner wall, the angle of taper of saidwall being substantially the same as the angle of taper of said hosel,the inner diameter of each portion of said sleeve being less than theinitial diameter of the corresponding portion of the encircled hosel sothat the wood of that portion the hosel is held in hoop compression, thelower end of said sleeve being formed with at least one slotlongitudinally extending upwardly from the lower edge thereof to a pointsubstantially midway of said sleeve; and a ferrule fixed about saidshaft in abutting engagement with said sleeve, said ferrule having anouter diameter at the end contiguous to said sleeve equal to the outerdiameter of the latter and an outer diameter at the opposite endslightly in excess of the outer diameter of said shaft.

2. A golf club comprising a wooden body formed with a substantially fiatstriking face; an elongate, tapered hosel formed integral with said bodyand extending upwardly therefrom; a shaft; said hosel being formed witha bore for receiving an end of said shaft; a sleeve having a wall ofconstant thickness encircling the upper portion of said hosel, saidsleeve having a tapered, smooth, inner wall, the angle of taper of saidwall being substantially the same as the angle of taper of said hosel,the inner diameter of each portion of said sleeve being less than theinitial diameter of the corresponding portion of the encircled hosel sothat the wood of that portion of the hosel is held in hoop compression;the lower portion of said sleeve being formed with at least one slotwhereby said lower portion produces in the wood encircled thereby alower compressive stress than that produced by the upper portion of saidsleeve.

FREDERICK W. MATZIE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,643,754 Sleith -e Sept. 27,1927 1,644,510 Buhrke Oct. 4, 1927 1,844,812 Thorpe Feb. 9, 19321,905,406 Barrett Apr. 25, 1933 2,198,350 Smith Apr. 23, 1940

